Been looking to break these guys out of storage since I haven't played them with the most recent book that made grimhammers much better . My worry is that lack of shooting/cav will leave it very open. Thror would be the banner with his rule.

I have plenty of Iron Hills that could sub in as the third warband with goat riders/crossbows, but I'm not sure. I've considered Dale as well, but none of mine are painted currently...

Thror
- 18 Guardians of the King (yes I like the grimhammer model a LOT )

Thrain
-6 Erebor Dwarf w/ shield
-6 Erebor Dwarf w/ spear+shield
-1 Grimhammer

Thorin
-6 Erebor Dwarf w/ shield
-6 Erebor Dwarf w/ spear+shield

_________________
"Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!"
Theoden, The Ride of the Rohirrim

I've played a few games against a similar army recently. I thought it worked pretty well. The three dwarf lords have an awful lot of wounds and armour to chop through, and can dish out a fair bit of damage too, so it's not easy to take on.

All the armies with built-in banners seem good to me too ... so Thror is a great choice for his banner effect.

If you wanted to pack the list with even more might and damage-dealing then Young Dwalin could be a good addition, at the expense of a few numbers.

That's good to hear! Did it seem to struggle with anything?

I was on the fence between Thrain and Dwalin, but I could always trim some of the shield dwarfs for Dwalin too. Haven't had much experience with him in his young form, but I'm sure he does work.

_________________
"Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!"
Theoden, The Ride of the Rohirrim

I think the dwarves are pretty solid and do well in a straight fight. It was pretty annoying facing against Thror, Thrain, Thorin and Dwalin with an evil army with fight five heroes and only a few strikes, because there was no way I could strike enough to get all the heroes.

I also tried the Black Riders against them, and killed a couple of heroes with black darts, but then started to run out of will.

I guess as usual dwarves have problems in movement scenarios though. (I won one game because it was carrying the prize and my rider ran off with it).

Ah, a fellow dwarf friend and stout believer in bearded superiority!

It's tempting to put all mighty heroes in the list but its not advisable. Thror is for sure your first pick for huge S4 and banner effect but second you need a captain for that crucial march. There are many scenarios that will be lost "automatically" without march like "hold ground" or "seize the prize". There are many armies that will just pick you apart from afar like skirmishing Rohan or Umbar by running faster than 5". Take march.

Shooting wont hurt you that much with D7, but you need an answer for that in the long run, especially if the enemy can dictate engagement range. March, Iron Hills Ballista and crossbows will help. The ability to shoot back and pressure, to snipe a model with crossbows on an objective without marching there with cute 5" or just neuter the opponents plan by neutering his shoot capability is not to underestimate. Take Allies with shooting.

I often pack Iron Hills and Thror's Army together. If you want to play mainly Thror go for it but pack at least one warband of Iron Hills with 4 crossbows and 2 Goat riders in. Goats! You love them! They can counter charge cavalry, take objectives and run from the board in reconoitre. By Durin I love ballistas too because your throwing weapons can hit in the move phase and shooting will be hampered in the shoot phase by the ballista. Take that filthy elves! Plus it often forces your enemy to react and then I ll often skirmish with my throwing weapons. Look for mobility and utility.

Dale offers shooting too but nothing else and only 1/3 of their warband can be bowmen. The other models only give F4 spear support - something you can do with Thror's grunts too but with more armor and more beards. They can be nice but Iron Hills offers a solution to all of your problems. Love your kin.

Thror's Army can be a good shieldwall army with skirmish elements to grind down the enemy with elite troops (less their heroes) in solide number. But you need to compensate for your lack of mobility and shooting for the sake of objectives.


I often play with something like this:
Thror with King's Guard
Thrain with shield+spear warriors
Iron Hills Captain (on goat) with 2 Goats, 4 crossbows, 6 shield+spear dwarfs (and banner)

or

Thror with King's Guard
Dain + full warband with at least 2-3 goats and 3-5 crossbows
Ballista